San Francisco 49ers players feel as though the team is on the cusp of something special. The coaching staff has a lot of faith in its plan for success, while the front office has a lot of faith in the coaching staff. The 49ers won just four games last season, a two-game drop from the victory total in 2017.
The loss of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo contributed to last season's struggles. Garoppolo is expected to be healthy by training camp, and he is expected to be the 49ers' Week 1 starter. The team also spent the offseason improving one of its biggest weaknesses on defense — the pass rush.
So when someone predicts that the 49ers will be worse, not better, than last season, fans take notice. That's what happened earlier this month when NFL Network analyst Adam Rank went through the 2019 NFL schedule game-by-game and predicted the records for all 32 NFL teams (49ers segment begins at about the 48:20 mark).
In case you missed it, Rank predicted that the 49ers would finish the upcoming season with a 3-13 record — one game worse than last season. He had the team's three victories coming against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, the Cleveland Browns in Week 5, and then no wins again until a Week 11 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. That's it.
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— 49ers HUB (@49ersHub) June 18, 2019
The consensus is that the 49ers could potentially finish right around .500 during the upcoming season with a healthy Garoppolo. A betting site recently had San Francisco's over/under for wins at eight games. A few surprises here and there could give the team another win or two and possibly put it in the hunt for a Wildcard spot. Rank doesn't see any of that happening.
"To me, this isn't indicative of the talent or what they're building in San Francisco," says Rank. "I have a lot of faith in Jimmy Garoppolo. I think there's some nice pieces defensively, but when you look at the schedule, there are a lot of tough games, including the Browns, the Steelers, the Rams. You've got the Packers. You've got Saints.
"Unfortunately, it's going to mean a 3-13 record for your San Francisco 49ers."
As for the rest of the NFC West, Rank has the Cardinals finishing with the same 3-13 record as San Francisco, and both the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams ending up with 12-4 records with the latter winning the division.